By Don Bartel
Our US Navigators Vision Statement begins with this sentence. "We see a vital movement of the Gospel, fueled by prevailing prayer, flowing freely through relational networks and out into the nations." Then it goes on to explain what that movement of the Gospel looks like.
At our Metro National Conference, I took a few minutes to explain what it takes to launch a movement of the Gospel. Let me review the two points I made at that time and add the third.
First, we must reach those without Christ. Notice, if we want to start a movement of the Gospel, our primary starting audience is unbelievers. Our task is to reach them - lots of them. Of course we will help existing believers, but our focus must always be on the unbelievers. They are the ones Jesus came to seek and to save. Jesus referred to them as the ...
- Least: Matthew 25:31-46 - hungry, thirsty, stranger, poor, sick, prisoner
- Last: Matthew 19:30-20:19 - perhaps the unreached, unchurched, or last one you can imagine entering the kingdom
- Lost: Luke 19:10 and Luke 15 - lost sheep, lost coin, lost son - perhaps the atheist, agnostic, or unbeliever
Second, we must develop
them into fruitful insiders in their own natural contexts. This is the heart of discipleship and spiritual reproduction. We must help them to be fruitful, especially in their extended family and relational networks (friends, coworkers, neighbors). The more the Gospel flows in these natural contexts, the stronger the foundations of the movement will be.
Third, we must come alongside to help
them form communities that multiply. This concept appears in our Vision Statement where it says the Gospel is proclaimed and embodied in such a way that "transformed communities multiply." Most of us are experienced in multiplying laborers, but few of us have given much thought to multiplying communities.
Let me explain how this community multiplication process might happen. I believe existing families (oikos) and relational networks already share the connection of community in the natural sense. That is, they share elements of life together. Some experience this life together more strongly than others. When the Gospel invades these relationships, a new spiritual dynamic enters and the existing community is transformed as more and more of them begin following Jesus. As a community like this develops and matures, its overflow spreads the Gospel to new families and relational networks. The community formation process that was experienced by the first community is reproduced in the second, the third, the forth, and so on.
If we want to see movements of the Gospel, all we need to do is reach
those without Christ, develop
them into fruitful insiders in their own natural contexts, and come alongside to help
them form communities that multiply. It sounds so simple, but it will take a lot more focus and intentionality than we have given it in the past.